Before you begin, create a new project by right clicking on the dektop, creating the folder, and renaming the folder. You will save all of your pictures, audio and video in this folder. It would be best to create this folder on the desktop so you can access your material quickly and easily.
Creating an iMovie Project
First choose file and then new project.
Type a name for your new project.
Importing Video
To import media into your collections folder, select File > and select the folder you created for your project >then select the items you wish to import and click Import.
To add a photo or still image to your video, click on the image you would like to add first. Hold down the left mouse button and drag the image onto the Video layer on the timeline or onto a storyboard slide.
To add music, click on the music note icon. Drag the mp3 clip into your desired location on the timeline. Remember: Copyright music cannot be played for more than 30 seconds.
Adding Photos and Motion Effects
Choose Window > Photos, or click the Photos button in the iMovie toolbar.
In the Photos pane, find the one you want. You can use the search field at the bottom of the pane to find a photo by name.
Drag the photo to wherever you want it to appear in your project. By default, iMovie sets a photo’s duration to four seconds and applies the Ken Burns effect. Depending on how you’ve set your project thumbnail slider, the photo may “unroll” like a filmstrip.
To change the length of time the photo will appear in your project, put the cursor on the egde of the photo and drag to the left to shorten the length. This lets you choose how many seconds you want the photo to stay onscreen in your movie.
If you don’t like the way the effect was added to your photo, you can change it or remove it.
Adding Sounds and Voiceover Effects
Click the “Music and Sound Effects” button in the iMovie toolbar.
To change the length of time an mp3 runs, click on the mp3 and drag the edges left and right to increase and decrease length.
Click on Clip Adjustments, then change the duration of time the photo (with the mp3 playing under it) is displayed.
Go to Clip > Split.
If the portion of the clip you wish to remove is not at the beginning or end of the clip, repeat the last step. The portion of the clip you want to remove should be in-between two splits.
To delete the portion you just selected, right click on it and choose Delete. The clips after the deleted portion will move into the unoccupied space.
Creating Narrative and adding it to the Audio Timeline (Microphone Needed)
Click the Voiceover button to open the Voiceover window.
Choose the microphone you want to use from the Record From pop-up menu.
Drag the Input Volume slider to the right or left: If you have a soft voice, drag the Input Volume slider to the right to make the recording louder. If you have a loud voice, drag it to the left to make the recording softer.
Drag the Noise Reduction slider all the way to the right to eliminate ambient noise (white noise) as much as possible. If you want to retain some of the background sound as part of your recording, drag the slider to the left.
Select Voice Enhancement if you want to make your recorded voice sound smoother.
If you need to hear the audio as you record your voiceover, select the checkbox labeled “Play project audio while recording,” and then plug in a pair of headphones so that the microphone doesn’t pick up the sound of the audio playback. Deselecting the checkbox silences the audio playback while you’re recording your voiceover.
When you’re ready to begin, click the point in a clip where you want the voiceover to begin. iMovie counts down from three to one.
Begin speaking when prompted. Speak loudly and clearly into the computer’s microphone, keeping the Left and Right volume level indicators in the green. Yellow indicates you’re speaking a bit too loudly; red indicates you’re speaking much too loudly and your voice will be distorted (“clipped”) in the recording.
To stop recording, press the Space bar or click anywhere in the iMovie window.
Tools - Title and Credits
Choose Window > Titles, or click the Titles button in the iMovie toolbar.
Select the title style you want, and drag it to a clip in your iMovie project. As you hover over the video clip with the title, a purple shadow appears over the clip, indicating whether the title will appear over the whole clip, the first third of the clip, or the last third of the clip; you can always move and resize it later. After the title is dropped into place, a title appears in the iMovie viewer and a blue title icon appears above the video clip.
In the viewer, select the placeholder text, and then type the text you want.
To change the color, font, or style of the text, select it, click the Show Fonts button in the viewer, and then make your selections in the Font window.
To preview your work, click the Play button in the viewer, and when you like the way it looks, click Done.
Saving Project File
There is no need to save the project, all saves are done automatically. All that is needed to be saved is the source video files you placed in your project folder.
DO NOT delete the project file, without this all work of on the project will be lost.
Publishing to YouTube
Select your project in the Project Library, and then choose Share > YouTube.
Choose your account from the Account pop-up menu. If you don’t have a YouTube account, you can set one up by clicking Add and creating an account on the YouTube website.
Type a name for your movie in the Title field and give it a short description that viewers can read in the Description field.
Type keywords in the Tags field to help users find your movie if they search for it on the YouTube website.
Select a size to publish. Medium is recommended.
If you don’t want your movie to be publicly available for viewing, select “Make this movie private.”
Click Next, and then click Publish to accept the Terms of service offered by YouTube. iMovie automatically uploads your movie to the YouTube website. After the movie has been uploaded to the YouTube website, the title bar of the project in iMovie displays “Published to YouTube.” It also displays buttons that take you to the movie’s webpage and send notifications to your friends.